United States of Wine

Bluegrass Vineyard — Commonwealth Cabernet — N/V — Smiths Grove, KY

Price: $21.25; https://bluegrassvineyard.com/

Apparently a state known for great bourbon has a growing wine industry. We tried the Commonwealth Cabernet from Bluegrass Vineyards, an area I can best describe as “lower central Kentucky,” not far from the new Buc-ee’s travel center.

This is a bold red, a blend of cabernet sauvignon and Malbec, though I’m unsure where the grapes are grown. My immediate concern with this wine was that the bottle labels offer different information about the varietal percentages of the blend. The front label says the wine is 85% cab, 15% Malbec, but the back label says 60% cab and 40% Malbec. There’s more confusion when I see the wine on the Bluegrass website, which states that the non-vintage wine is 60% Malbec, 40% Cabernet Sauvignon.

As a wine drinker, this gives me a deep mistrust of the wine already. At this point, I know there will a deduction in my final score because, as a wine drinker, I should be able to trust the vineyard to give me the correct information for the bottle that I’m drinking. I did submit the question of the varietals to their contact form, in hopes for some clarity.

The scent from this Commonwealth Cab reminds me of a Nutri-Grain bar: a purée made of flavorful berries and a baked good. There is also the slight smell of Scotch Tape, which every person obsessed with office supplies (like myself) loves. The berry smell makes me think of blueberry and strawberry preserves.

This is a dark-colored wine, even in a well-lit environment. There is a dark red rust color on the edges, like dried blood. A bold color for what I hope will be a bold wine in my Kentucky Oaks stemless glass.

Initial tastes show us that the wine is not as sweet as it smells, though very fruit forward. The lack of tannins tells me that the wine is 60% Malbec, like the website says. Where I was expecting a bolder wine, instead is weaker and slightly more tart flavor.

After the wine has had more time to breathe, a particular flavor starts to shine through, a fruit I cannot place but have definitely tasted. And why am I getting images in my brain of being sick? That’s when it hits me, there is a distinct taste of elderberry in this wine, something found in my go-to cold medicine.

The more air the wine gets, the more the elderberry flavor grows, the more it starts to taste like cough syrup to me. This, I can honestly say, does not work against the wine. I’m particularly surprised of a wine that tastes different than those I’m used to.

My tasting partner and I agree that while we may not go out of way to pick up another bottle when in Kentucky, we’d definitely stop at the winery to try it again if we got gas at the nearby Buc-ee’s.

Score: 7/10